Understanding Users:
Qualitative Research
Cooper 4
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics





Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Qualitative Explains
Qualitative Provides
Qualitative Benefits
Types of Qualitative Research
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics






Stakeholders Defined
Stakeholder Interviews
Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Interviews
User And Customer Interviews
User Interviews
User Observation/Field Studies
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics






Literature Reviews
Competitive Audits/Analysis
Conducting Interviews
Improving on Contextual Inquiry
Identifying Candidates
Ethnographic Interviews
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Topics






Basic Interview Methods
Basic Interview Questions
Post Interview
Other Research
Usability and User Testing
Questions & Discussion
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Qualitative vs. Quantitative




Qualitative explains
Quantitative counts
Statistics are quantitative
Human behavior is too complex for
quantitative
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Qualitative Explains


How existing products are used
The domain for the product use
– Technical
– Business
– Environmental
– Vocabulary of the domain
– Social aspects of the domain
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Qualitative Provides


Creditability and authority to design
team
Provide common understanding of
– User concerns
– Domain issues

Empowers decision making
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Qualitative Benefits







Faster
Less expensive
Flexible
More useful answers
Reveals current problems
Identifies basic goals and current tasks
Explains broader aspects of product use
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Types of Qualitative
Research






Stakeholder interviews
Subject matter experts (SME)
interviews
User and customer interviews
User observation/field studies
Literature reviews
Competitive audits/analysis
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Stakeholders Defined

Key members of organization
–
–
–
–
–
–

Managers
Engineering
Marketing
Sales
Communications
Customer support
External
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Stakeholder Interviews






Primary vision of the product
Budget
Schedule
Technical constraints
Business drivers
Perceptions of users
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Interviews




SMEs are expert users
Knowledgeable, but not designers
Necessary in specialized designs
Access throughout the entire design process
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User And Customer
Interviews






Customer and user may be different people
Identify goals
Elicit frustrations with current processes and
tools
Understand the purchasing decision process
Installation, maintenance and management
Domain issues
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User Interviews





Problems and frustrations with current
system or process
Context of use
Patterns of user behavior
Domain knowledge
Understanding of current goals and tasks
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
User Observation/Field
Studies



People are inaccurate in self description
Observation is crucial
Video and audio taping can be useful
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Literature Reviews







Product or domain specific
Existing versions or competing products
Marketing materials
Existing research
White papers
Business and industry journals
Trade publications
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Competitive Audits/Analysis



Examine existing products
Failed approaches or products
Expert/user reviews of competing
products
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Conducting Interviews





Master/apprentice model
Context
Partnership
Interpretation
Focus
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Improving on Contextual
Inquiry




Keep it short
Use smaller design teams
Identify goals first
Look beyond business contexts
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Identifying Candidates


Get a diverse sample of users
Persona hypothesis
– What sort of people are the users?
– How might their needs and behaviors
vary?
– What ranges of behaviors are there?
– What is the range of environments?
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Identifying Candidates




Based on behavior, not demographics
Vary by product type
Business users are different than
consumers
Business roles frequently map to jobs
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Identifying Candidates




Consumer roles map to lifestyles
Identify behavioral variables
Domain vs. technical expertise
Environmental considerations
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Ethnographic Interviews




Gets stakeholder involvement
Early phase interviews are exploratory
Mid-phase interviews identify patterns
of use
Late-phase interviews confirm
observations
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Basic Interview Methods



Interview where the action is
Avoid a fixed set of questions
Use goal related questions
– Opportunity
– Goals
– Priorities
– Information
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Basic Interview Questions

System oriented questions
– Function
– Frequency
– Preference
– Failure
– Expertise
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Basic Interview Questions

Workflow oriented questions
– Process
– Occurrence and recurrence
– Exception
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Basic Interview Questions

Attitude oriented questions
– Aspiration
– Avoidance
– Motivation
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Basic Interview Methods






Goals first, tasks second
Don’t let the user design
Don’t discuss technology
Encourage storytelling
Ask for demonstrations
Avoid leading questions
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Post Interview





Meet with other team members
Compare notes
Identify and discuss trends
Review old notes
Create a binder and file interview
notes
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Other Research

Focus groups
– Standard technique in product marketing
– Good at eliciting product information
– Weak at describing how products are
used
– Tend towards consensus in groups
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Other Research

Demographics
– Age
– Education
– Income
– Location

Market segmentation
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Usability and User Testing



Focus on measurable characteristics
Requires a design artifact
Effective at testing
– Naming
– Organization
– First time use
– Effectiveness
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu
Questions & Discussion
William H. Bowers – whb108@psu.edu